Liverpool and Chelsea faced broadly similar transfer questions this summer, but their approaches varied hugely. FSG may have channelled their funds better....CONTINUE READING THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
Liverpool, on the whole, had a good transfer window. FSG brought in one of the best young strikers in Europe, struck bargain deals for two of the most exciting teenagers in Britain and, belatedly, addressed their midfield shortfall.
It was probably a seven out of 10, a B or B+, but it would be easy for Liverpool fans to lose sight of that amid the crazy spending elsewhere.
Most notably, Chelsea shelled out £253m (according to Transfermarkt figures) in the first summer of the Todd Boehly regime. They led the Premier League, very nearly matching Real Madrid’s single-window record of £270m.
The most expensive additions were Wesley Fofana (£72.36m) and Marc Cucurella (£58.77m), with Raheem Sterling (£50.58m) not far behind.
Kalidou Koulibaly arrived for £34.2m, along with 18-year-olds Carney Chukwuemeka (£16.2m) and Gabriel Slonina (£8.18m).
On deadline day, the Blues made two more signings, with Denis Zakaria arriving on loan from Juventus and Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang returning to the Premier League from Barcelona for just £10.8m.
Aubameyang was Chelsea’s primary answer to a dilemma that Liverpool also faced — replacing an outgoing forward. In the month that Sadio Mané left Anfield, Romelu Lukaku rejoined Inter Milan on loan.
It was, in many ways, the same question. But the two clubs came up with very different answers.
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Liverpool allocated the majority of the FSG budget — 83 per cent (again according to Transfermarkt figures) — to signing their chosen successor in Darwin Núñez.
By contrast, the Aubameyang signing accounted for a mere fraction — 4.2 per cent — of Chelsea’s mighty outlay.
The Reds also filled the void very early: before Mané had officially left, in fact. Núñez’s arrival was made official on 14 June, and Bayern didn’t announce Mané until 22 June.
Meanwhile, Lukaku left Chelsea on 30 June, and it took the club more than two months to recruit another number nine.
They’ll also look to Sterling to score goals, of course, but evidently he alone was deemed insufficient.
And finally, where Liverpool and FSG swooped for a 22-year-old who could offer a decade of service, Chelsea elected to make a short-term, stop-gap signing that will force them to go back into the market in 12-24 months’ time.
Aubameyang’s overall record in the Premier League is strong — 68 goals in 128 matches, equating to one every 1.88 games. And his numbers for Barcelona last season — 13 goals in 23 appearances — were also very good.
But in Europe’s strongest league, the Gabon international, who turned 33 earlier this summer, may come to be viewed as a fading force.
Before he left Arsenal midway through 2021/22, he’d only bagged four goals in 14 Premier League matches, and his return of 10 in 29 the previous season was a little underwhelming too. Combined, that works out as 14 in his last 43 in the English top-flight.
This, then, is more of a gamble than it appears for a Chelsea side that desperately needs a dependable goalscorer, having only managed six goals in five matches so far in 22/23.
It remains to be seen how the two players fare this season, but the contrasting approaches from two sides with the same goal — breaking Manchester City’s stranglehold on the Premier League title — are striking.
And on the face of it, one looks a fair bit smarter and more sustainable than the other. FSG may not have spent an eye-watering overall total (although they have in all likelihood broken the Liverpool transfer record), but they were prompt in addressing the glaring question that Chelsea only seemed to answer as an afterthought.
